If you have multiple protagonists, start with who you think your primary protagonist will be. Of course this may change during the course of the first draft, but it’s good to begin with a main character in mind.

Think about the basics of this character:
Gender
Age
Race/ethnicity
Physical characteristics
Name

Flesh out this character as much or as little as you want. We’ll come back to build on this character with more detailed exercises later in the month.

FOR FUN: pull a picture out of a magazine or print one from the Internet to represent this character.

TIP: don’t be afraid to make decisions! If you chose a non-gendered Martian but it turns out you really need it to be a male humanoid from Kepler 62-e, you can always change your mind later.